German police have arrested two men identified only as Dieter S and Alexander J on suspicion of spying for Russia.
According to AFP, the German-Russian nationals who were arrested in southern Germany were accused of acting as agents for sabotage purposes.
The two men were identified only as Dieter S and Alexander J in line with Germany’s strict privacy laws.
The office of the Federal Public Prosecutor General on Thursday said the duo were taken into custody on suspicion of espionage on Wednesday in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth.
The two are accused, among other things, of acting as agents for sabotage purposes and of preparing explosives, the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced in Karlsruhe
Dieter S is accused of exchanging information about possible acts of sabotage in Germany with a person connected to a Russian intelligence agency since at least October 2023.
Prosecutors said the actions were intended in particular to undermine the military support provided by Germany to Ukraine.
Dieter S is said to have told his interlocutor that he was prepared to carry out explosive and arson attacks, primarily on military infrastructure and industrial sites in Germany.
He collected information about potential targets for attacks, including facilities of the U.S. armed forces, according to the statement by the prosecutor’s office.
Dieter S is said to have scouted out and photographed some of the targeted objects, such as military transports.
The second accused, Alexander J, is accused of helping him from March 2024 at the latest.
The pro-Russian DPR claimed control over the Ukrainian administrative district of Donetsk in 2014, with the aim of secession from Ukraine, and started to engage in intensive clashes with the Ukrainian armed forces. The DPR is known to have repeatedly used violence against the civilian population.
Authorities say Germany, which has become one of Kyiv’s biggest suppliers of military aid, is a key target for Russian spying operations.
“Our security authorities have prevented possible explosive attacks that were intended to target and undermine our military assistance to Ukraine,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in response to the arrests.
“It is a particularly serious case of alleged spy activity for [President Vladimir] Putin’s criminal regime.”
Germany’s Interior Minister Marco Buschmann hailed an “investigative success in the fight against Putin’s sabotage and espionage network.”
“We know that the Russian power apparatus is also targeting our country,” he tweeted. “We must respond to this threat defensively and decisively.”
